I'm a Libertarian living in Humboldt County, CA. I've lived here in Eureka since 1973 and joined the Libertarian Party in 1992. This blog will mostly focus on local political issues, but I may stray into state and national issues as well, when I can't help myself. Please post your comments by clicking on the "comments" link at the bottom of each post. Although I do moderate comments, you need not be a registered user to post them.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

I guess not, but I wouldn't blame them if they did. It apparently piqued the interest of Local Solutions as they sent a copy of the news article that sparked the rumor over their e-mail list. The news article refers to Rob Arkley giving a speech at some college in Louisiana about the economic opportunities available in the rebuilding of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The hidden message being that making money in rebuilding after a hurricane is a bad thing. This from same folks that insist any work being done in rebuilding be carried out by union labor which raises the costs of rebuilding considerably. Hmm???As an aside; I had the pleasure of traveling to and from the Bay Area Sunday and Monday with a fairly well known local attorney who's known the Arkleys for some time and, in fact, hired Rob Arkley long ago before Arkley's rise to fame and fortune. He told me the story of how Arkley made it to the big time. Quite inspiring.As I told Bill after hearing the story, it seems like there's two types of people in this world: Those who rely on others to increase their standard of living by asking for a job or a raise in pay and those entrepreneurs with vision, tenacity, determination and the guts to make themselves financially independent- the kind of people that make things happen. I certainly don't fall in the latter category.

What about people like Mother Theresa? Where does she fit in your two kinds of people? And how about Charles Ponzi? He had that entrepreneurial spirit, but he was relying on others to increase his standard of living without providing them anything. Either/or models over simplify the rich complexity of life.

Most of the folks I know who have worked real hard and having to constantly be creative in order to make money or get what they need are not at all rich like arkley.

Does Arkley not "rely on others to increase" his standard of living? Sure he does! Who does all the work from which the arkleys profit? Surely not Rob (jr) himself!!!

If we are going top dichotomize humanity, I think that author Daniel Quinn's model is more accurate: the two types of people being the "givers" and the "takers." And it seems to me that the arkleys most likely fit into the "takers" category, although I have to admit that I have never had too terribly long of a conversation with him or his wife (Cherri? is that her name).

For more on Daniel Quinn's way of looking at the world see his books "Beyond Civilization" and "Ishmael." Some of his writing can be found online at his website.